Bernard Milken Center
West Hills, CA
Attendance around 150
There was a lot of hype and expectations for this show. Too much in fact. The show was solid, but no show could live up to the expectations that MPW established after its killer debut show. Pro-wrestling politics didn’t help matters either.
The show opened up with MPW champion The Future Frankie Kazarian coming out to the ring and calling out Little Guido (his scheduled opponent that night). Little Guido came to the ring and Frankie announced that due to circumstances beyond his control he can not defend the title tonight (Rick Bassman, owner of UPW told Kazarian that if he wrestled on the show he would not be able to wrestle a WWF dark match on Tuesday). He then said “Since I can not defend the MPW title, I am handing it over to Little Guido, the new MPW champion”. This caused Cincinnati Red, Scrap Iron Adam Pearce, and another guy who’s name escapes came to the ring. Big Hardcore Cincinnati Red demanded a title shot that night. Guido accepted Red’s challenge, so now the main event is Cincinnati Red challenging Little Guido for the MPW title.
Match 1: Primetime Petterson defeated Logan X
A good opening match. These two guys worked very well together and both pulled out some impressive high risk moves. Primetime won with an inverted top rope suplex.
Match 2: Lucky Pierre defeated King Faviano
This was a good match for comedy, a sub-par match for actual wrestling. These guys had some funny spots together but as far as wrestling went they just did not click. This was my first time seeing Lucky Pierre but I have heard good things about him, and having seen Faviano on numerous occasions I know he is more than capable of putting on a good match. This just wasn’t their night. I don’t remember what the finish was to the match, as Rob Van Dam walked into the building and that distracted me.
Match 3: Crayz and Perro Russo went to a double countout
This was by far the worst match of the night. There isn’t a whole lot I can say about this match, I try to block out bad memories.
Next Jason Allgood and Demento came to the ring. Allgood was carrying the Brittany Spears cutout that he usually brings to the ring with him. In a funny promo he asked the cutout to marry him. I don’t know about this. It seems he will get a lot of paper cuts on his honeymoon.
Match 4: High Impact (Prodigy & Andy Van Dam) defeat Jason Allgood & Demento
Apparently this match was put together about 30 minutes before show time when another tag team had to cancel. Still a very solid match. All the girls in attendance seemed to be rooting for High Impact. Up till this point this was the match of the night. High Impact won with their finisher (I don’t know what it is called, basically Prodigy had Allgood on his shoulders and AVD did a flying clothesline from the top rope).
Match 5: Super Dragon defeated Rising Son 2 falls to 1
Everyone expected this to be the match of the night. Everyone was wrong. Not only was this the match of the night, it is a serious contender for match of the year. I’ve have heard the match these two had in January at Revolution Pro was better, but I wasn’t there. This match had everything a wrestling match needs. Psychology, mat work, high spots, incredible risk taking, everything. The first fall was won by Super Dragon with a rollup. Rising Son took the second fall with a move off the top rope where he flipped Super Dragon around and got the pin. The third fall was incredible. Super Dragon was able to hit the Psycho Driver 2001, but Rising Son kicked out. Super Dragon eventually won with the original Psycho Driver, one of the most insane finishers I have ever seen. These two wrestlers showed once again why they were the number 1 and 2 ranked wrestlers in Southern California last month. Incredible match.
Match 6: Scrap Iron Adam Pearce defeated Ryan McBain
They had to follow up Super Dragon and Rising Son so they took a different approach and brawled. The tactic worked as far as I’m concerned. These two put on a very entertaining match. Especially considering what they followed.
Match 7: Cincinnati Red defeated Little Guido for the MPW title
This would have been a much better match with Kazarian instead of Red, but it didn’t turn out as bad as it could of. The match was solid, with the exception of some table spots that didn’t work. A lot of times big stars just go through the motions when it comes to indy matches, Guido is not one of them. A very good performance by him made this match what it was.
All in all a solid show. The Super Dragon and Rising Son match alone was worth the price of admission and the drive. The next MPW show is July 28th and has Low-Ki on the card. Its rumored Low-Ki will either be going against Super Dragon or Chris Daniels. Should be a killer match.
[This article originally appeared on Kayfabe Magazine, but with the demise of that site it has been archived here.]
